The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 191: Mother

“No!” he shouted. “It’s not mine...”

No one believed him. Nine Frost, Gray Bear, and a few others tightened their grips around their weapons, their eyes sharp and icy.

“I, I wasn’t bitten!” Dai Xiaojun panicked and sat down on the ground, peeling off his sock. “I’ll show you. I wasn’t...”

He yanked off his sock before he finished his sentence, but then he abruptly stopped talking. On his foot was a bite mark, and it was still bleeding.

The air froze for a second.

Dai Xiaojun’s ashen face broke into sweat, and his eyes lost focus. He kept shaking his head. “No, this isn’t real. This can’t be. It’s not happening...”

“I’ll do it.” Nine Frost gripped the golf club in his hand and took a step forward.

“Save me, Miss Li! Help!” Dai Xiaojun scrambled toward Li Huafeng and grabbed her. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to...”

“Mr. Dai, please stop...” Li Huafeng was scared as well, but the overpowering emotion in her heart was sorrow.

While Dai Xiaojun was strict to the students, he was a friendly colleague, and he had been kind to Li Huafeng. Moreover, their children were at a similar age, and they often talked about parenting.

“Miss Li! I feel alright, really. I won’t turn into them! Not everyone’s gonna lose their mind, right?”

Mr. Dai held onto Li Huafeng’s arm tightly, looking like a man possessed. “Tell them! Tell them now!”

Gao Yang gave Nine Frost a look.

Nine Frost nodded and lowered the golf club.

Gao Yang went up to them and said in a patient voice, “Calm down, Mr. Dai.”

“I’m fine, perfectly fine!” Dai Xiaojun suddenly turned around and shouted at Gao Yang, “I won’t let you hurt me!”

“We’re not going to.” Gao Yang raised his hands and put on a kind look. “You’re hurt. We need to treat it...”

“Away from me!” Dai Xiaojun suddenly pulled out a swiss army knife from his pocket. Then he grabbed Li Huafeng by the neck with one hand while pressing the knife to her chin with his other hand. “Don’t come any closer! All of you, back off...or I’ll kill her!”

Gao Yang immediately stepped back.

“Mr. Dai, what are you doing...” The sorrow on Li Huafeng’s face gave way to fear, and she looked at Gao Yang imploringly, begging him to help her.

Gao Yang suddenly felt lost. These two were wanderers. They had been imprisoned by the Heavenly Way for 18 years, repeating the same period of time nonstop. They were hardly alive at this point. Death was their only salvation.

Why should I take them so seriously? I could just leave them to their own devices.

Gao Yang told himself that, but then he remembered Wan Sisi.

At that moment, Gao Yang understood better why the Twelve Zodiac Signs prohibited unjustified killing of wanderers.

While wanderers weren\'t humans, they were too much like humans.

If awakeners hunted down these creatures, they would lose their respect and empathy for living, breathing humans, and then they would become nothing but bloodthirsty monsters.

Physiology shouldn’t be the only thing separating humans from monsters; heart should be too.

Gao Yang took a deep breath and addressed Dai Xiaojun, “We promise we won’t hurt you, Mr. Dai, but don’t hurt Miss Li either.”

“That’s right.” Gray Bear stepped in as well. “Lay down the knife. I’m a cop. I swear that I won’t let them hurt you.”

He showed the man his badge.

“Do, do you mean it?” Dai Xiaojun wavered when he saw the badge.

“Yes.” Nine Frost dropped his golf club before turning to the others. “Drop yours.”

They followed suit and tried their best to rearrange their stiff facial muscles into a friendly smile.

“Alright, alright, I believe you.” Dai Xiaojun recovered somewhat. “I, I was just too scared. I didn’t mean to hurt Miss Li...”

“We understand,” Gao Yang continued to assure him. “It’s okay.”

Dai Xiaojun slowly let go of Li Huafeng.

Shuddering, Li Huafeng slowly inched away from the man. She didn’t dare to move too quickly lest Dai Xiaojun get triggered again.

They all watched things unfold with bated breath.

Once Li Huafeng was safe, they would rush up to subdue Dai Xiaojun. Then they would talk about how they should deal with the man.

During the two seconds of stillness, the room was filled with a strange silence.

Clang.

Then something dropped.

It’s the swiss army knife! Shit!

Nine Frost noticed the encroaching danger too, and with the back of his foot, he kicked the golf club up to grab it before rushing toward Dai Xiaojun. However, he was a step too late. Dai Xiaojun’s transformation was instantaneous. In the blink of an eye, he had become a living dead covered in red veins, his empty eye sockets glowing with a bloodthirsty crimson.

Growl!

Dai Xiaojun pounced on Li Huafeng and bit her in the shoulder. Nine Frost’s golf club hit him in the head at the same time, but failed to stop the rune corpse from sinking its teeth into Li Huafeng.

“Gah!” Li Huafeng screamed.

Gray Bear rushed up to help too, and he kicked Dai Xiaojun off her.

Clang! Dai Xiaojun slammed into a metal cabinet, his teeth still latching onto a lump of bloody flesh.

Two seconds later, Nine Frost’s golf club hit Dai Xiaojun’s head again, making a dull thud. Dai Xiaojun seized up and toppled heavily to the floor.

Nine Frost dared not stop. He kept smashing the rune corpse’s head.

Thud, thud, thud...

Every hit seemed to reverberate in their chests like a physical thing. They felt the impacts keenly.

It didn’t take long for Dai Xiaojun’s head to shatter completely, scattering blood and gray matter everywhere. A pungent smell of blood permeated the air.

Now covered in sweat, Nine Frost cast aside the bloodied golf club and plopped down on a bed, falling silent.

Considering they had to stay in the infirmary for quite a while, Gray Bear voluntarily moved over to tear off the curtain and wrap it around Dai Xiaojun’s body. Then he picked the body up and hurled it out of the window.

Xiran and Ronnie found some medical gloves and put them on, suppressing their disgust while cleaning up the mess.

The others were left staring at Li Huafeng. She was still sitting prone on the floor with a hand covering her bleeding shoulder. Her blood had drenched her white coat. Her face was pale and covered in tears, her lips trembling.

She was scared, and so very sad.

Gao Yang was suddenly hit with an intense regret. Why did he save Dai Xiaojun back in the stairway? If only he had left the man to die, at least there would have been one less death.

No, he couldn’t think like this. It would be too arrogant of him.

He was no God. He couldn’t see the future. He wasn’t omniscient. All he could do was try his best to make the decision that felt right to him. The rest would be left to fate.

“Miss Li,” Gray Bear said hoarsely.

“I know.” Li Huafeng was calmer than they expected. “I’ll spare you the trouble.”

None of them said anything.

Li Huafeng struggled to stand up. With her bloodied hand, she pulled out a piece of paper from the breast pocket of her white coat, turning to Gray Bear.

Gray Bear walked up to her without the need for her to say anything.

“My note...” Li Huafeng gave the letter to Gray Bear with a trembling hand. “If you get out of here alive, deliver this to my daughter. Out...our address is written here.”

“I will.” Gray Bear took the letter and put it in his pocket. “I promise.”

“Thank you...” Li Huafeng choked out. “My daughter, my daughter is still so young. I can’t, I really can’t stop worrying about her...”

“Rest assured, your daughter will grow up safe and sound.”

The others exchanged a silent glance.

The truth was that the woman no longer had a daughter. Everything related to her had been erased. However, before the wanderer’s moment of death, Gray Bear chose to tell her a white lie so that she could part from this world without regret.

“You’re right. She will grow up safe and sound.” Li Huafeng wiped away her tears, leaving a smear of blood. Then she took a deep breath and ran toward the window.

Gao Yang reflexively turned away, so he didn’t witness the moment Li Huafeng jumped off.

Two seconds later, he heard a quiet thud.

Silence took over the infirmary again.

“Get yourself fucking together!”

It was Gray Bear who broke the silence.

“There are eighteen levels to this hell, and we’re only through the first level!”